Police: Woman faces charges after several dead puppies found in hot car

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri (KY3/Gray News) – A Missouri woman has been charged after several dead puppies were found in her hot car.

According to Springfield police, authorities received a call around 3 a.m. that several dogs were in 30-year-old Macey Casteel’s car in a parking lot.

The emergency caller told police that the dogs had been unattended in the car for at least three hours.

A few hours after the call, an officer checked on the dogs and determined that they were not in distress.

According to court documents, animal control did not want to respond. The officer on site postponed the operation until 9 a.m.

Another police officer went to check on the dogs, but upon arrival noticed significant condensation on the inside of the windows and stacks of dog cages in the back seat.

The officer also noticed several dogs whining inside and some dogs that had died, KY3 reported.

When officers opened the door, they could feel the heat from inside. It felt like it was over 38 degrees.

The officer began to remove the kennels, and at that moment Casteel came out and asked, “Are my puppies okay?”

Casteel was arrested on 13 counts of animal cruelty.

When questioned by investigators, she said she arrived at the crime scene around 1:30 a.m. and left her car running with the air conditioning on during her stay.

She also told investigators that she went to a friend’s house at night.

KY3 reported that she told her friend to drive her back to her car, but the friend refused.

Casteel told investigators she fell asleep again, woke up and returned to the crime scene, where she saw police standing around her car.

She told authorities that she was traveling to Oklahoma to sell the mini cockapoo puppies.

Authorities said animal control took the dogs to a veterinary clinic, where several of them had to be euthanized due to heat-related illnesses.

According to investigators, only three of the 13 dogs survived.

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